Factors associated with non-adoption of healthy behavior among individuals with diabetes: a population-based study in Brazil.

BACKGROUND: The non-adoption of behavioral changes to control diabetes mellitus contributes to a low adherence to self-care. This study aimed to investigate the factors associated with non-adoption of healthy behaviors among diabetic individuals. METHODS: Cross-sectional study using data from the National Health Survey (Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde) carried out in 2013 in Brazil, with adults (≥18 years) (n = 3098). The outcome variable was the non-adoption-two or fewer-of healthy behaviors. Logistic regression model was used to identify the factors associated with non-adoption of healthy behaviors. RESULTS: Approximately, 50% of the participants adopted two or fewer healthy habits and the most frequently mentioned were not drinking excessively (94.1%) and not smoking (89.1%). Not using diabetic medication (odds ratio (OR) = 1.37, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.02-1.85), not making regular doctor visits (OR = 1.42, 95% CI = 1.08-1.87), no limitation of usual activities (OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.01-1.94) and good self-rated health (OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.09-1.98) increased the chance of individuals non-adoption of healthy behaviors independently of gender, age, schooling and economic status. CONCLUSIONS: Health professionals need to be aware of issues, such as diabetic medication use, frequency of doctor visits, limitation of usual activities and good self-rated health, which are factors that can interfere with the adoption of healthy behaviors of diabetic patients.

Excess mortality associated with COVID-19 in Brazil: 2020-2021.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate excess mortality in Brazil from January 2020 to April 2021, according to the primary causes of death registered in the Brazilian Mortality Information System (MIS). METHODS: Cross-sectional study with data extracted from the MIS. Excess deaths were examined by the primary cause of death according to 11 grouped causes. Autoregressive models used mortality data from 2015 to 2019 to predict expected deaths from January 2020 to April 2021. Excess deaths were calculated as the difference between the observed and the expected number of deaths. RESULTS: Total excess deaths of 370 055 were observed in the studied period, corresponding to a ratio of observed to expected of 1.14 in 2020 and 1.40 in 2021. Excess deaths were seen in three groups: symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified; other diseases of the respiratory system and coronavirus infection, unspecified site. CONCLUSIONS: The excess mortality in Brazil in these 16 months was 1.20 times greater than the previous year. The increase in not elsewhere classified causes and causes of death associated to COVID-19 indicate caution about the negative balance for some causes. Furthermore, the inequalities of mortality reporting systems in low- and middle-income countries in relation to underestimation of mortality still need to be addressed.